Improvement in railway-car starter



c. B. BROADWELL.

I Railway Car Starter. v 7 No. 105,635. I Patented July 26, 1870.

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q i I ag in fittin I "GHARLEMS B. BROADWELL, or NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

. IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-can STARTER.

The Schedule referre'dto in these Letters fatent and making part of the same.

. I, QHAELESB. BROADWELL, of New Orleans, Louis iana, haveinvented acertain new Apparatus for Stopping, Starting, and Backing Street Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a very simple mechanical arrangement, through the agency of which the driver of a st-reetrailroad-car'can stop the same, and, while doing so, develop and garner up a force to start it My invention, therefore, by rendering the wearing and destructive efl'ect-s of the friction-brake, as well .as

by securing a larger performance of service from the horses and mules employed to draw or pull the cars of street railroads, becomesof great value and importance not only to the owners of such roads, but to the public generally.

But my invention will be more clearly and quickly understood by referring to the drawing, whereon it is shown ateg Figure 1 bya sectional elevation in connection with the fioor of a street railroad-car, through line a b of fig. 2, and at Figure 2 by a bottom view of the same.

- Figure 3 is a detached view of my device, for bolding the loose pulley in any -given position'whenever desired.

On the drawing--- A is the floor of the car, which we may suppose to be (15f any proper construction for city railroad purposes, an

B B the axles of said car. .In order t'oapply my invention, the axles have, near the centers thereof, as shown, short sections, 0, that are made perfectly square.

0n the same side of these square or rectangular sections 0, on each axle, is fitted pulleys, D D, which are provided withannular grooves, c c, that are deep enough to receive several coils of a strong cord or chain, E.

The central openings in the pulleys D D are recpulley D, which, it will be perceived, is on the front axle, B, in the center of its circumferential groove c. The cord is then passed around pulley D from the under side, as clearly shown in fig. 1, two or three turns, and then carried forward and attached to the rear end of a spring, F, as shown.

' The length of the cord E is so adjusted that all slack thereon will be taken up when the spring F oc- 'cupies its normal position.

The spring is securely attached to the floor of the car at its front extremity, substantially as shown, and

is prevented from coming in contact with the loose pulleyl) and its adjuncts bya guard or fender, d, (see fig. 2,) or by a removable enveloping tube.

I A lever, G, is pivoted, and has its fulcrum at 2, and, extending longitudinally underneath the floor of the car,is connected with the pulleys D D by means of a yoke-clutch, H, (see fig. 3,) for the form of the same, in such manner that when it is moved on its pivot at 2, these pulleys will bemoved respc'ctivelyiu opposite directions and be thrown, one on the square port-ion of the axle on which it is mounted, and the other otf the square section in its axle.

The lever G, at its front end, turns up at right angles so as to present a vertical section, G, as shown at fig. 1, to serve as a handle for the driver with which to move it either to the right or left. I

.A curved slotor opening,.I, in the floor of the car allows the lever to be moved easily in either direction. In order to hold the clutch immovably in place whenever the tensile force of the spring F has been developed .by'the winding up of the cord E around pulley D, I make a circle of small holes, 3, on one side of said pulley, and provide a projecting'pin; 4, on the proximate jaw of the yoke-clutch H, which, entering one of the holes 3, as shown at fig. 3, effectually accomplishes this purpose.

.If I find it necessary to adopt the same means to hold fast the pulley on the other axle or to employ a lever in connection with each pulley in order to improve the efficiency of my apparatus, I hold the liberty of doing so, since such a duplication of the parts in question would not at all affect its mode or principle of operation. I also reserve the right to use any form of spring, whether of rubber or metal, and to apply it in any mariner, in lieu of the helical spring F, if I should consider it expedient.

The operation of my invention is very simple.

Whenever the car is to be stopped the lever G is moved so as to throw the pulley D on the square section 0 of the front axle, and the pulley D oli' the square section of the rear axle B. This instantly puts the pulley D in motion and winds on it the, cord E, the pulley D meanwhile tnrningloosely and taking up the cord between it and the spring F, and thereby developing the tensile power of said spring until it attains to the point which will overcome the momentum of the car and stop it. The moment this is done the pin 4, in the yoke-clutch H, is, by a slight movement of the lever G, thrown in one of the holes 3, to prevent the retraction of the spring until the car is again to be started.

When this is to be done, the pulley D is thrown on the square section of axle B by a counter movement of the lever G, the pulley I) being forced olf the square section of the axle B by the same movement. This brings the whole tensile force-of the spring F into action, and insomuch as this force is exerted in the proper direction to rotate the axle B so as to carry the car forward, the starting is effected thereby without the least assistance from the draft animals.

Instead of a square section to fix the pulleys on the axles, I may use hexagonal or octagonal sections, and in every case it is necessary to bevel the ends of said sections in orderto facilitate the operation of throwhold the pulley and the front axle on the square-hexagonal or octagonal section thereon. after the car is stopped, when the retraction of the spring will accomplish that object.

What I claim is- The arrangement of the pulleys D D, the cord or chain E, the spring F, and lever G, as herein described, underneath the floor of a street railroad-car, when the axles of the same are provided with square sections 0 O, and all the parts are constructed and united and operate substantially as specified, for the purpose set forth.

0. B. BROADWELL.

Witnesses: v

H. N. J ENKIXS, Burns R. RHODES. 

